The Theater an der Wien (The Theatre on the Wien River) is a historic theatre on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district of Vienna. Completed in 1801, it has seen the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, the theatre has served primarily as an opera house, hosting its own company.
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The theatre was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who is best known to history as Mozart's librettist and collaborator on the opera The Magic Flute (1791). Schikaneder's troupe had already been successfully performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller Theater auf der Wieden, where The Magic Flute had premiered. Schikaneder, whose performances often emphasized spectacle and scenery, felt ready to move to a larger and better equipped venue.[1]
He had already been granted an imperial licence to build a new theatre in 1786, but it was only in 1798 that he felt ready to act on this authorization. The building was designed by the architect Franz Jäger in Empire style (it has since been remodeled). Construction was completed in 1801. The theatre has been described as "the most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age.".[2]
The theatre opened on 13 June 1801 with a prologue written by Schikaneder followed by a performance of the opera "Alexander" by Franz Teyber. The new theatre proved to be a sensation. Adolf Bäurle, a local critic, wrote "if Schikaneder and [his partner] Zitterbarth had had the idea ... to charge admission simply for looking at the glories of their Theater an der Wien, Schikaneder would certainly have been able to take in vast sums of money without giving one single performance." The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called it the "most comfortable and satisfactory in the whole of Germany" (which meant at the time, "all German-speaking lands").[3]
In 1807 the theatre was acquired by a group of court nobles that included Count Ferdinand Palffy von Erdöd, who bought the theatre outright in 1813. During the period of his proprietorship, which lasted until 1826, he offered opera and ballet and, to appeal to a wider Viennese audience, popular pantomime and variety acts, losing money in elaborate spectacles until he was forced to sell the theatre at auction in 1826.
Only a part of the original building is preserved: the Papagenotor ("Papageno Gate") is a memorial to Schikaneder, who is depicted playing the role of Papageno in The Magic Flute, a role he wrote for himself to perform. He is accompanied by the Three Boys, characters in the same opera.
As a prominent theatre in an artistically vital city, the Theater an der Wien has been the location for the premieres of many works of theatre and music that endure to this day, among them:
The theatre experienced a golden age during the flourishing of Viennese operetta. From 1945 to 1955, it was one of the temporary homes of the Vienna State Opera, whose own building had been destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II.
In 1955, the theatre was closed for safety reasons. It languished unused for several years, and by the early 1960s, the threat had emerged that it would be converted to a parking garage (this was the same era of "urban renewal" that in America nearly destroyed Carnegie Hall).
Fortunately, in 1962 the theatre found a new and successful role for itself as a venue for contemporary musical theatre. Many English-language musicals had their German premieres there. In 1992, the musical Elisabeth (about Franz Joseph I of Austria's wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi), premiered there. The musical Cats directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne played successfully for seven years.
Despite its focus on operettas and musicals, the theatre still served as a venue for occasional opera productions, especially during the Vienna Festival seasons, and sometimes co-produced with the Vienna State Opera. Notable productions were Lulu (1962; conducted by Karl Böhm, staged by Otto Schenk, designed by Caspar Neher, starring Evelyn Lear),[5] Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridice (1967; conducted by Richard Bonynge, staged by Rudolf Hartmann, with Nicolai Gedda, Joan Sutherland),[6] Fidelio (1970; conducted by Leonard Bernstein, staged by Schenk, with Gwyneth Jones, James King),[7] Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1971; conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, staged by Federik Mirdita),[8] L'elisir d'amore (1973; conducted by Silvio Varviso, staged by Schenk, with Nicolai Gedda, Reri Grist, Eberhard Wächter),[9] Die Fledermaus (1975; conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, staged by Michael Kehlmann, with Wiesław Ochman, Reri Grist, Elizabeth Harwood, Waldemar Kmentt),[10] La clemenza di Tito (1976; conducted by Julius Rudel, staged by Mirdita, with Werner Hollweg, Teresa Berganza, Arleen Augér, Edda Moser),[11] Fierrabras (1988; conducted by Claudio Abbado, staged by Ruth Berghaus, with Thomas Hampson, Karita Mattila, László Polgár),[12] Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1989; conducted by Harnoncourt, staged by Ursel Herrmann, Karl-Ernst Herrmann),[13] Don Giovanni (1990; conducted by Abbado, staged by Luc Bondy, with Ruggero Raimondi, Karita Mattila, Marie McLaughlin, Cheryl Studer),[14] Le nozze di Figaro (1991; conducted by Abbado, staged by Jonathan Miller, with Ruggero Raimondi, Marie McLaughlin, Cheryl Studer) and the world premiere of Adriana Hölszky's Die Wände (1995; conducted by Ulf Schirmer, staged by Hans Neuenfels).[15] Between 1996 and 2002, Riccardo Muti conducted new productions of Così fan tutte,[16][17][18][19] Don Giovanni (both staged by Roberto de Simone),[20][21][22] and Le nozze di Figaro (staged by Michael Heltau, based on an original production by Giorgio Strehler).[23][24]
In 2006, the 250th anniversary year of Mozart's birth, the Theater an der Wien presented a series of major Mozart operas. This initiated its conversion to a full-time venue for opera and other forms of classical music under the direction of Roland Geyer. The first opera to be given was Mozart's Idomeneo with Neil Shicoff in the title role and Peter Schneider conducting the new production by Willy Decker. Other members of the cast were Angelika Kirchschlager, Genia Kühmeier, and Barbara Frittoli.
Geyer is quoted as saying that he wishes to "present cutting edge directors and interesting productions",[25] and his three main areas of focus are on Baroque opera, contemporary opera, and Mozart.
The theatre's seasons have included the following works:
Among the singers have been Marijana Mijanovic, Frederica von Stade, Olaf Bär, Patricia Petibon, Anatoli Kotscherga, Anja Silja, Diana Damrau, Plácido Domingo, Maria José Montiel, Andrea Rost, Christine Schäfer, David Daniels.
The Theater an der Wien frequently collaborates in co-productions with other opera houses, such as the Washington Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, and the Sächsische Staatsoper in Dresden.
It has been reported that in 2013, the opera A Harlot's Progress will receive its world premier at the house. By young British composer Iain Bell, it will feature German soprano Diana Damrau in the title role.[26]
"Wien" is the German word for "Vienna"; but the "Wien" in the name of the theatre is not the name of the city but rather the name of the Wien River (Wienfluss), which once flowed by the theatre site; "an der Wien" means next to (that is, on the banks of) the Wien. In modern times the name has become somewhat opaque, since the river has been covered over in this location; the covered riverbed now houses the Naschmarkt, an open-air market.